Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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He doesn't want us to have confidence in God. He's doing everything he can to try and build up confidence in man and what man is doing.
But a great man, man who were at the top today realized that things aren't quite as solid as they had hoped they would be. Things are becoming very shaky in this world. Those things that man had confidence in are beginning to crumble because the Bible says that those things.
That can be shaken, will be shaken, but we have a Kingdom which cannot be moved. We have that which is secure. And we have it because we have faith, because we believe God, because we take God at his word. And perhaps the simplest definition of faith is given to us in John chapter 3. Perhaps we could turn to this.
John chapter 3 and verse 33. He that hath received his testimony.
Has set to his seal that God is true.
Perhaps we might think also of the verse in the 11TH of Hebrews that says now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. But that is not, strictly speaking, a definition of faith. It rather tells us what faith does. That is, faith makes real things that we haven't seen. If I believe that there's such a place as Paris, France, I haven't seen it, but it becomes real to me. I talk of it as.
Fact, even though I haven't seen it, because I believe the testimony of those who have been there and who have taken pictures and reported and so on, I believe their testimony. And Paris, France is real to me because of the testimony that I have believed of others. And dear young people, the question for us is, do we really believe God? Do we really believe that He has given us a message that we can rely upon?
Do we believe that this precious.
Book is the word of God that He has spoken to us, that he has given to us what we need for our pathway here. I want to tell you that I do. I believe that we have in our hands and on our knees this precious book, the word of God. And Jesus said heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away.
Many years ago, a man was speaking about these things to an unbelievable.
And his reply was, well, I just can't believe it. And his answer to him, that is the Christian man's answer, was you can't believe who? Well, he said I didn't just mean it that way, but he said, he said I can't believe it. But he said you can't believe who? And that's the important thing for us. To you young people, this is either the word of God or it is not.
And if you don't believe, it is the word of God.
Then there's nothing here that you can rely upon. To take out one verse and say I can rely on this and to set aside another is to destroy its authority altogether. That's why Paul said in writing to the Corinthians when they sought to question the authority of the word of God. He said, examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith. And that is if we're going to set aside part of God's word and accept another part.
By then we really don't have any security at all. If you hand me a book and ask me what I think of it, you must think that I know a little more than the writer, because what good would my testimony be unless I knew a little more than the writer? And whenever you pick up the word of God, always do, like our dear brother John Begg of New York used to do, he said. When he picked up the Bible, he said.
God's holy Word, and that's a great thing for us.
To pick it up and say God's holy words. And that's what I want to bring before you. First of all, I have lived for a few years in this world and I have found the older I get, the more I can rely upon this precious book. It's God's word and I have received the fact that God has spoken and even at times when there are things that are hard to understand.
I'll say what another has said. Never let the things you don't understand.
Spoil the things you do understand and know. There is that in the word of God, which is so simple. There are other things that are very deep, but it's all the precious word of God. So let me give you that verse again. He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true. And so when you read the Bible.
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Why realize that it is God's Word as the Scripture says?
Tremble at it to this man will I look to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and that trembler at my word.
Some years ago there was.
A boss and there was a little child in the bus returning from Sunday school and she had a little text and the text was have faith in God. And she was playing with this text. And in those days the windows were open in the bus and she held it out to let it flutter in the wind and it blew away. And she shouted out, I lost my faith in God.
Well, you know, God ordered that, I'm sure, because somebody else was sitting in the bus. And that was just exactly what had happened to him. He had once, as a child, had that simple faith, but he had lost his faith in God. Oh, I plead with you to retain in your heart and in your mind the fact that you have the Word of God. Read it as the Word of God. Believe it as the Word of God.
Because God values that confidence in Him.
Without faith, it is impossible to please him.
You can judge other books. If I write a book, I hope you'll test it. I hope you'll examine it and see if it's according to the Word of God. If somebody else writes one, do the same. But not so with this book. It's God's precious word. And there's one other verse I'd like to get a turn to in Hebrews chapter 10.
And verse 35.
Cast not away, therefore, your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward.
Not a lovely verse to think that God would actually reward us for being confident in him. That always strikes me because it's only what I should do. Certainly I ought to believe him. Certainly I ought to trust Him. And then he says, I'm going to reward you for trusting me. Only the thing that you and I should do. But he wants us to continue.
And so it all the ups and downs of life and there are going to be plenty.
Of them the enemy is going to over and over again when situations arise, say why if God is a God of love, did he allow that and he's going to try to shake your confidence in him and that's why it says also in Ephesians chapter 6, it says and take the shield of faith wherewith ye shall be able to quench.
All the fiery darts.
Of the wicked, that is. When Satan comes with one of those questions, Why? Just raise the shield of faith and you'll never be sorry that you trusted God.
Miss Lady Powers Court when she came to the end of her journey, said it takes the whole Bible to live by, but it just takes one verse to die with and the verse that speaks peace and confidence to my soul at this time is this. The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son cleanseth us from all sin. And that's true. It just takes one verse to give you confidence.
And but we need it, I say.
All through life we need to have faith that God is ordering the circumstances of our lives as He sees best. He knows exactly what is best for every one of us. As it has been said, He has an individual tuition for each one. When you go to school or go to university, why you don't get an individual tuition?
You sit in a classroom or a lecture room and there are a number of people.
And they're all listening to the same thing. But you know, God deals with us as individuals. He's going to deal differently with me than with you. I'm a different personality. I came from a different family. I have a different background. And God knows all about your background. He knows about where you've been brought up, all the influences that have been brought to bear upon your life. He knows all about those things, dear young people. And you say, oh, if they were only.
Very different, but God ordered them just the way He wants them. And He puts you in a certain place, and He desires that you should have that confidence in Him. And so I beg of you, dear young people, don't allow any of the questions that are put into your mind by the enemy, and perhaps by those who pretend to know more, that would lead you to question even one verse of God's precious word.
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It's that which is necessary for your salvation. You will never have peace with God until you rest in simplicity upon the Word of God. Everyone here who is saved will say, the way I know I am saved is because I have rested on some verse in God's Word. Your verse may be different from mine, but you have some verse that you rest upon that you rely upon, and by that you know.
That you're saved. And so it is for our whole pathway. If someone asks you why are you doing this or that, why do we gather as we do? Don't say, well, that's the way I was brought up for. There isn't any reason. Don't say, well, I've talked to a lot of influential people and they think it's right. That'll never bring you any real peace. You need to get it for yourself.
And when the Lord Jesus was here, he said.
And they shall be all taught of God. And 1 is often said, you will never have the truth for yourself until you have received it from the Lord. And I hope that as you said in these meetings that you will receive the truth is from the Lord. So I just wanted to first of all talk about faith, the importance of it, what it really is.
It's really believing God. It's believing that God is true.
It's making real that what you haven't seen. And then too it is, it is that which enables you to go on in the pathway. For we walk by faith, not by sight. There are many things that we can't see but that we believe. And when God has spoken, we have that confidence. And so there may be some dear young person here today.
And the devil is trying his best to shake your confidence.
The Lord has allowed some circumstance to come in your life. He has allowed something to happen, and the enemy is doing right now that dreadful work of trying to sow unbelief in your heart. And may I just add that that is the final condemnation of those who are in a lost eternity. It says He that believeth on the sun hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not.
The Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him, and the very last thing before they're cast into the lake of fire is. And whosoever was not written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. True, they're judged according to their works, but the final condemnation is that they would not believe God.
If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater.
To many things you have received the testimony of man, but the testimony of God is greater. So I say again, May God grant your young people that this one thing will be with you all through your life, and that is that you believe God, that you'll be able to say, like Paul when he was on the ship just about to be shipwrecked on the way to Rome, he said, I believe God.
That it shall be, even as it was told me.
And so it is, you can safely trust him. No one has ever been disappointed who has put their trust in him. Well, may the Lord help you then to maintain, to always lift that shield of faith in all the circumstances that come into your life. So we're told in that verse that we opened with that.
For a Take the breastplate of faith and love.
Now I'd like to speak about hope. That's the next one, it says. And now about a faith, hope and love. Would you turn to First Timothy? First Timothy chapter 1?
And verse one.
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope.
Now we'll just turn back with me, please, to Psalm 42.
Psalm 42.
Verse 3. My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God? When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me, for I had gone with the multitude. I went with them to the House of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holy day. Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted in me?
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Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. O my God, my soul is cast down within me. Therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan and of the Hermonites from the hill miser.
Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy water spouts all thy waves, and thy billows are gone over me. Yet the Lord will command his loving kindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.
I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy, as with a sword in my bones my enemies reproach me, while they say daily unto me, Where is thy God? Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise Him who is the health of my countenance.
And my God.
Then one other verse in Titus chapter 2.
In connection with Hope Titus, chapter 2.
And verse 13.
Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ.
Well in these verses you notice the word hope has been brought in. First of all, in Timothy it says Jesus Christ, which is our hope.
Well, first of all, we see that faith centers in a person, its faith in God, its faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and hope centers in a person too.
Verse in first Timothy, Jesus Christ, which is our hope. Now, you know, we do have all kinds of hopes in humans and we often get disappointed. They do let us down. We hope that they'll do something for us and they disappoint us. And so the word hope, when it's associated with humans, it always brings in the element of uncertainty.
If I say, well, I hope to get home tomorrow, there's an element of uncertainty because.
Because I'm a human, someone else promises and I say, well, I hope they'll be able to do it. There is an element of uncertainty. But dear young people, this hope is in a person. Thank you.
This hope is in a person, and that person is the Lord Jesus, and so when we have hope in Him, nothing can fail that He has promised. As our brother read to us, there hath not failed one word of all His good promise. When God makes a promise about something, well then we can be assured that He is not going to fail in the fulfillment of what He has promised.
But we do have those hopes that we have and we expect something to happen and it doesn't happen and we feel very frustrated.
There's that hope that we had and we really thought that the Lord was going to undertake in this particular matter. And then we didn't. It didn't work out the way we had hoped. And now the enemy comes in at that point too, and.
The Lord Jesus is our hope. All our hopes in him are secure. That many of these hopes that we have, we have to compare them to what we have here about the psalmist in this 42nd Psalm. And that's what I wanted to bring before you a little bit because I like to think of this little Psalm as representing the ups and downs of life. You know, life has all these ups and downs.
We have hope as the Bible says hope. Be free.
The heart sick. And so they're often deferred hopes, things that we expect and hope. And we have looked to the Lord about it. We really think that this thing is going to happen and it doesn't happen and we get very cast down. Well, it isn't that the Lord failed. Maybe we were expecting something that was not His will. And so He hasn't given us that thing because it was not His will for us if we have that faith and confidence in Him.
Them then we know that As for God, His way is perfect.
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Well, in this 42nd Psalm I might just mention I think most of us know the Psalms are divided into 3 books. 5 books rather. And this is in the second book of the Psalms. And this figuratively looks on to the time when the godly remnant will be driven out from Jerusalem, unable to go into the House of God because the Antichrist is there.
He is sitting in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. And so they are very cast down. These godly ones had gone into the House of God, and now the Antichrist is there and they're very disappointed. And what makes it harder still is that their enemies turn and reproach them and say, Where is thy God?
Did you ever have that happen to you when something that you?
Want it happened, wanted to happen, and it didn't happen. It all broke down, it all went to pieces. And then somebody said, oh, you thought your God was so strong, why didn't he help you out in that problem? And this was what caused the frustration in the mind of the apostle of the psalmist. You know, dear young people, I'm so glad that God puts these things in actual perspectives in his word. He puts things just as they are in life.
He doesn't just tell us things, but He, as it were, pictures them in daily life and brings in the feelings of people as associated with those very things that He is teaching us.
And so here is the psalmist, and he is mourning. And he said, I remember when we went into the House of God, but now the enemy has seated himself there, and they.
They're in tears. It says my tears have been my meat day and night. And there may be some young person this this is happening to you. You're in tears. People are saying, well, you thought it was going to happen and it didn't. And you said you trusted the Lord and it didn't work out and you really get discouraged and cast down God's giving those actual feelings in description here in this 42nd Psalm. And when we come to this fifth verse, it says.
Dear, why art thou cast down, O my soul? You know it's good to talk to ourselves sometimes. Do you ever talk to yourself? It's good to do it. And this is the psalmist. He's not talking to God, he's talking to himself. He says, Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted within me? Don't you have any hope? Don't you have any confidence in God? Don't you believe that you can?
Lost him. And so he asked the question to himself, Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And then he answers his own question, and he says, Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him, not because he takes me out of the difficulty, not necessarily, but for the help of his countenance. Isn't that true?
Did you ever feel cast down and someone came along to you and they just took your hand?
And entered into your trouble with you, and you said you're a big help to me. They didn't take you out of their trouble, but they helped you in it. Isn't that lovely? And that's just exactly what he's saying here. He said, Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. He doesn't always take us out of our problems. He helps us in them. He comes down.
The precious Savior left the glory, my Father used to say.
Could have come down and had gone to Calvary's cross and accomplished that work for our salvation and gone back to glory. It was what he did in those three hours of darkness that met your soul's need in mind. But why those 33 1/2 years? All that? He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest, that he might know and understand all that we go through in our pathway. He could say, reproach hath broken.
I am full of heaviness.
I look for some to take pity, and there was none, and for comforters, but I found none. Oh dear young people, don't give up your hope. Turn to the one who will help you by his countenance. Look to him. And he said, I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. Oh, how lovely this is when you say I've tried that, but I get down again. Sorry, the psalmist just read the next verse.
Oh my God, my soul is cast down within me, Therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar. Yes, the Lord helps us, but we do get down again too, don't we? The Bible pictures things just actually as they are in everyday life. He gets down again.
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And he says, well, I can think about the Lord no matter where I am. I may not be able to go into the House of God, but I can remember him no matter where I am. And it's interesting, these three points mentioned. Jordan runs into the Dead Sea. That was the lowest point in Israel. Mount Hermon was the highest point. And if you have a margin.
The Hill Miser means little Hill isn't that interesting? Sometimes you get right down.
The bottom, sometimes you get up on top and sometimes you're halfway between, but the Lord is always there no matter what it is you can think about Him. He is our hope, Jesus Christ, which is our hope. And so he said, well, I do get cast down, but I know the Lord's with me in all the ups and downs of life.
And then isn't it beautiful, this next verse? It was read to us this morning. Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy water's boats. All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me. Yet the Lord will command His loving kindness in the daytime, and in the night His song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life. I want you to notice the contrast. In the seventh verse he speaks about the sufferings of the Lord.
And then he.
Says in the eighth verse. Yet the Lord will command his loving kindness in the daytime. When the Lord went through his untold sorrow, He was forsaken. When you go through sorrow, you're not going to be forsaken. The Lord will command His loving kindness in the daytime. He'll give you a song even in the night. He'll enable you to rise above the difficulty. When the precious Savior went through all that suffering, he was forsaken. But I want to tell you, dear young people, you will.
Never be forsaken. He'll never forsake you. He's promised that. But He did forsake that Blessed One who was taking your place and mine at Calvary. And so if you ever feel down, just think of how when the Lord was bearing that suffering, He was forsaken and you will never be.
Well, he still gets down like we all do. And then I just want you to pass on to the 11TH verse.
Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God. I just like you to notice that the fifth verse and the 11TH verse are almost the same, but there is quite a notable difference in the fifth verse it says.
I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.
And in the 11TH verse it says, I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance, and my God.
Isn't that beautiful?
That is, in the fifth verse he's saying, well, I'm going to, I'm going to have hope in the Lord because I can trust Him and I'll get help from his countenance. But in the last verse it has helped his own countenance. It's beginning to reflect in his own countenance. And you know, this is a wonderful triumph that you sometimes see in the lives of believers.
In deep trial you can see that they have learned to look to the Lord.
And like Moses up there on the top of the mount, he he went up there with a heavy heart. The people had sinned. The people had fallen into worshiping the golden calf. And poor Moses was heartbroken. But when he came down, his face is shining, boy. He spent 40 days in the Lord's presence, and he learned how much the Lord loved his failing people. And as he came down, his face was so shining that he had to put a veil over his face.
Dear young people.
The Lord can make you happy in your problems, He doesn't just have to take you out of them.
Thank God He often does remove the difficulties. I look back and marvel at His goodness and how He's helped me in so many things. But I want to press this point for myself and for you. The Lord can give you grace to rise above those difficult circumstances until it actually reflects in your own face. And this is where hope comes in.
This is important for us. Faith first, then we.
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Have confidence in God, but hope because we don't see the deliverance right away. We don't see God acting right away. The enemy still keeps on saying, where is thy God? If your God is so mighty, why doesn't he come in and you say, well, I trust him, He's going to come in in his own time and as.
We as we sang in the little hymn When Faith and Hope Shall Cease, You won't need faith.
In heaven, you won't have to walk by faith there because everything will be changed to sight. We'll see our precious Savior face to face. We won't have to hope for anything because we'll have everything that we had hoped for.
There will not be 1 unfulfilled hope in that glorious place. But down here, we need faith, we need help. We need the shield of faith, We need the breastplate of faith and love. We need to have that.
Confidence in God that would enable us for an helmet the hope of salvation. And that doesn't mean the salvation of our souls there. For in helmet the hope of salvation means we have already the salvation of our souls, but this is only part of our salvation.
It says in Romans chapter 14 Now is our salvation nearer than when we believe. Chapter 13 Now is our salvation nearer than when we believe. And so we're waiting for the redemption of the body. We're waiting for the time when all these things that now trouble us will be removed. We were just reading some of us this morning in the 45th Psalm, where the description of the bride.
It is given in that future day that I think is so beautiful. It says she's brought unto the king in raiment of needlework. Rather, she's brought.
The King's daughter is all glorious within.
It says Her clothing is of wrought gold, and she has brought unto the king in raiment of needlework. Notice those three things.
Had says the King's daughter is all glorious within. I can't say that now Can I? Look inside? I've got a measurable old self.
Rotten, fallen nature inside, just like we have from our natural birth. I can't say as I look in and I'm all glorious. I know what the Lord sees in my heart, and it's deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. But there's a day coming when you look inside and there'll be nothing but perfection.
You'll never have a wandering thought, you'll never have a question. You'll never say I want this or I want that. Every desire will be fulfilled. And so then her clothing is of wrought gold. You and I already have a righteousness before God, and that is the righteousness of God in Christ. But then the raiment of needlework.
O brethren, how lovely, dear young people, you and I day by day can do just like the.
Girl who's preparing for the wedding, which is getting everything ready for that day. And if you and I are thinking of that day, why we're doing little things in our lives to meet with the Lord's approval.
How the girl might say, well, he's not marrying me for my clothes. The clothes don't matter. But why does she do that? Well, she likes to appear beautiful and she likes to hear him say, oh, that's lovely. Did you make that? It's just lovely. Well, let's you know that's what you and I have the privilege of doing. The fine linen is the righteousness of Saints. You and I have the privilege, dear young people, of living in such a way that in that day it will be manifested.
Well, I want to go on. Then we have faith.
Don't ever allow the enemy to bring unbelief into your heart. Don't give up this hope looking for that blessed hope. The Lord is coming, and when He comes, every hard question in life will be answered. Everything that's unexplained here will be explained, for we know in part. But then shall we know even as also we are known.
But then there's that last one, that one that abides. And let's turn to 2nd Corinthians chapter 5. Second Corinthians chapter 5. For the love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge that if one died for all, then we're all dead, and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.
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Then if you'll turn over to the First Epistle of John and the 4th chapter and the 18th verse.
There is No Fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
We love him because he first loved us.
Well, here we find love brought before us. Well, it tells us about faith. It's faith in God. It's faith in the Lord Jesus. If it's hope, it's a person, Jesus Christ, which is our hope and love. It says the love of Christ constraineth us. Perhaps some of them heard me comment this, but I must say I enjoyed in my own soul. The verse does not say.
The love of Christ should constrain us. It states that as an actual fact, the love of Christ constraineth us. And so it just means like this, supposing I had a powerful magnet here in my hand and I had some nails on the table, I wouldn't say to you, now watch, this magnet should pick up those nails. I would say this magnet picks up nails.
And as I bring it down, it's not that it should.
When it does that, that's the power that's in the magnet that attracts those nails and draws them to himself. But why were those nails unmoved while I held a magnet up here? Oh, you say you were too far away and just have to get the magnet a little closer, and then you can expect the nails to move. Well, that's the trouble with us, dear young people. We don't get close enough to the Lord.
You say, well I wish I enjoyed his love more.
Well, it's not that there isn't power in His love, but we need to heed that admonition of James. Draw an eye to God and He will draw an eye to you. You know, when you bring that magnet down, two things happen. As the magnet gets closer, the nails begin to jump and that's exactly the way it is. You know when you get close to the Lord, then you feel His love and it stirs your heart. You come to meetings like this and it's.
Because we spend 3 days over the Word and occupied with His love and it does something to us. It makes us feel we want to respond more to His love. We go away perhaps saying I want to live more for my Savior. He's done so much for me. But the enemy doesn't like that. And you're no sooner out on the road than something comes in to try and get you at a distance from the Lord so you don't feel.
Of his love and the enemy has succeeded. He doesn't want you to have confidence in God. He didn't want you to have hope. Confidence that the Lord would come in and the blessed hope of soon seeing your Savior face to face. He didn't want you to have that in your heart and in your soul and governing your conduct. And he doesn't want that love to constrain you. He doesn't want that love to draw you.
But oh how beautiful it is, the Lord's love.
Never, never changes. He delights to assure us of His love. Perhaps I can say at times when we would least expect it. In that 13th chapter of John, just the night before, the disciples all forsook him and fled. Why? It tells us, having loved His own, which were in the world, He loved them unto the end.
The time came that he would go back to his father, but he loved his own so much that he went to Calvary and died. That he might have you and have me. And he knew they were going to all forsake him that very night.
We turn to Malachi, the last book in the Old Testament, and tells us about all the disorder there was among God's people but it begins with this message from the Lord, the burden of the word of the Lord by Malachi. I have loved you, saith the Lord. And you know, dear young people, the devil wants to put into your heart and mind a question about the Lord's love to us if he can only succeed in.
Enjoying this and then he gets us away from him. And the heart must have an object so other things come in. Our brother spoke to us yesterday about all those temptations. But you know, why do we yield to those temptations? Because we think we're going to get something good by yielding to them. The devil says your life is humdrum. You're not having much fun and pleasure in life. You've got to do this if you've got to do that and he is telling you that the Lord isn't sufficient you.
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God has sidestepped His word a few times in order to have a good time in life. That's not true. Dear young people. The Lord cares about everything. He cares about all the natural things of your life. He wants you to be happy. He's never going to be a thief and a robber to you. He's a giving God. He wants to bless you and He wants to care for you. And he's concerned, I say, about everything.
Your friendships, your schooling, where you live, every.
Everything about your life he's concerned about and he wants you to know that. He wants you to have confidence in it. But I say again, even when we do grow cold, it doesn't change his love. His love is always the same and we need to remember that. It's the only thing that will keep us going on is the confidence of his love. It says because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax.
Cold In this day of abounding iniquity, it's very easy for our hearts to get cold, our affections cold toward the Lord, because we're surrounded with everything to take up our minds and to take up our attention and to draw our hearts away from Him. As the brother was saying, we have idols, we have other things that creep in. But all I want to say again, that love, that unchanging love, that love which is ever toward you, you and I.
Have the privilege of enjoying it. You can get up in the morning and say he loves me, cares for me, He's interested in all the affairs of this day and he wants me to trust Him. He wants me to come. And I love that verse. Pour out your heart before Him because there's nobody else you can do it but Him. You just can't tell. Tell everything to some people.
Very, very few that you can tell your inmost feelings to, but you can tell them to the Lord.
And it'll never change his life, it'll never change his love towards you, because he loves his own to the end.
But now that verse that I read in John's epistle, it says we love him because he first loved us. In the new translation, the word him is omitted. It says we love because he first loved us. Perhaps I hear somebody say, well, that kind of spoils it for me. No, it doesn't need to spoil it. You certainly do love him. But it also brings in the thought that the thought really in the verse is this. We have the capacity to love because he.
Loved us, you know, in natural things we love because of what we see in people. You say, oh, I love that person. Well, that person has meant something to you. And you love them because of some characteristic that you saw in them that drew out your affections. But divine love does not act that way. Divine love acts because of what it is in itself.
And I think that's a very important thing. There's another comment that has helped me in my life, and it said Christianity is known by what it brings and not by what it finds. It brings something. The Lord Jesus came into this world to bring something. What did he find? Unbelief, rejection. But he came to bring salvation. He came to bring his love. He came to bring the heart of God.
And why do we love? Oh, you say, my brethren are all so nice in the place where I live.
Yeah, well they may not always be, but God will give you and has given you the capacity to love no matter what return there is or what lack of return there is. Isn't that beautiful? We love because He first loved us. And whenever you find it hard to love some brother or some sister, just think, why did the Lord love me? He loved. I love because He first loved me and there was nothing in me at all to love. And I love because He.
Loved me. And that love is an unchanging love. And that's what we need in our assemblies. That's what we need in our homes. Christian homes are breaking up. Assemblies are having problems. And why? Well, at first there's a lack of faith. And I suppose too, we have lost our hope in waiting for the Lord to come. But perhaps too, that we haven't realized what divine love really is. Let me say it again. It acts because of what it is in itself.
You say, have I got that capacity? Do I not have to see something in the person? No. God has given you of His Spirit. You and I possess the life of Christ. We have the capacity to love whether there's any return or not. Oh, may the Lord give us to realize that. And then when we get home to heaven, there's going to be a scene where love will fill the whole place. As the little hymn says, Oh, what a home, the Father's house.
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Their love divine doth rest. What else could satisfy the hearts of those in Jesus blessed? What everybody desires in life is understanding and love and you get them both in the Lord you get understanding. He knows you and understands you perfectly. Did you ever say, oh, I wish I could talk to somebody that would understand my problems and my situation. When I tell people they don't understand that they can't seem to enter into it, but you have.
Friend that can, and that's the Lord Jesus and a person that can love in spite of all that we are, and he gives us that capacity. May we, brethren, be able to show a little of this to one another. May we have a little better understanding of one another. Maybe we'd be more like Ezekiel when he saw those people sitting by the river Chebar and dwelling in tents. He could have said it's all our own fault they rebelled against the Lord and that's why.
They're in their condition, that was true. But he went and sat where they sat for seven days. He entered into their position. And sometimes we have to enter into other people's positions and then love them like the Lord loves them. I don't mean that we don't have to be faithful. Ezekiel was very faithful in his message, but his message stemmed from love. He saw where the people were. He entered into it. He sat with them. Oh, may the Lord give us hearts that will enter into these things.
Things well, I just want to say again, we need that where we begin. It says we need the breastplate of faith and love and for in helmet the hope of salvation. And again the closing verse. And now abideth faith, hope and love these three and the greatest of these is love. The reason its greatest is because.
It overrules all circumstances. And then I say again when we get to heaven.
We won't need faith there. We won't need hope there. Everything that we have desired, we will have. Everything we have hoped for. It will be ours in possession. But love will fill that whole place.
Oh, what a scene that will be. Dear young people, I say again, we've only got a short time left. You're like the big candles. You're if the Lord doesn't come, you're the ones that are going to be left here a little longer and you can be a blessing. Nothing rejoices our hearts as those who are getting a little older, as the young people with a desire and heart for Christ, a desire to live for him.
We try to enter into your situation. It's difficult.
Today in 1983, and if the Lord leaves us here in 1984 will be more difficult. But the Lord is sufficient. He'll give you grace. May we not forget those three things. May they characterize our whole Christian life. The enemy is going to try and destroy them, but God would seek to maintain them in a practical way in our lives. Faith, hope and love.